Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Justice Department opened
an investigation relating to Autonomy Corp. after Hewlett-Packard Co. accused the software company of misrepresenting its
performance before being bought last year.

Justice Department representatives informed the company on
Nov. 21 of the probe, Hewlett-Packard said yesterday in its
annual 10-K regulatory filing. The computer maker booked an $8.8
billion writedown related to Autonomy last month after finding
that some revenue had been recorded prematurely or improperly.

Hewlett-Packard is cooperating with authorities while Chief
Executive Officer Meg Whitman works to turn around the company
after years of botched deals, management tumult and strategic
missteps. Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard also said
it’s providing information to the Serious Fraud Office in the
U.K. and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch, who left Hewlett-Packard in
May and refutes the company’s allegations, struck a $10.3
billion deal last year with Whitman’s predecessor, Leo
Apotheker, to sell the company he co-founded.

Yesterday’s filing didn’t include any additional details
behind Hewlett-Packard’s claims of accounting errors, which made
up $5 billion of the writedown.

Michael Thacker, a spokesman for Hewlett-Packard, declined
to comment today beyond details in the filing.

Lynch Response

“We will co-operate with any investigation and look
forward to the opportunity to explain our position,” Lynch
wrote in a statement yesterday. “We continue to reject these
allegations in the strongest possible terms.”

In a subsequent statement today, Lynch said Hewlett-Packard
is “backtracking” by not publishing more specific details
about its writedown.

“It is time for Meg Whitman to stop making allegations and
start offering explanations,” he said.

Hewlett-Packard shares fell 2.6 percent to $13.68 at the
close in New York. The stock has declined 47 percent this year.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into
Hewlett-Packard’s allegations of accounting improprieties at
Autonomy, a person familiar with the matter said on Nov. 21. The
company brought its claims about Autonomy to the SEC, which
asked the FBI for assistance, said the person, who asked not to
be identified because the matter wasn’t public.

The FBI can’t confirm or deny any investigation, said Julie
Sohn, a spokeswoman for the agency in San Francisco.

Hewlett-Packard also said in the filing that it’s facing
several shareholder lawsuits related to the Autonomy purchase.

Software Push

Apotheker, who was ousted as CEO in September 2011, viewed
Autonomy as Hewlett-Packard’s ticket into the high-margin
software market, which constituted less than 3 percent of
Hewlett-Packard’s sales at the time. Autonomy’s software is used
to organize the reams of data flooding corporate computer
networks.

Whitman, who was on the board at the time and approved the
acquisition, has tried to distance herself and other directors
from the decision, telling analysts on a Nov. 20 conference call
that the blame lies with Apotheker and former mergers and
acquisitions head Shane Robison, who was also the company’s
chief technology officer and departed last year.